Celebs cash in

PROPONENTS OF capitalism, you've got a new idol. And her name is Snooki.

Sure, the oft-intoxicated, self-described "meatball" star of MTV's "Jersey Shore" reality show may not be able to take the reins of, say, a Fortune 500 company. But according to writer Jo Piazza, celebrities like Snooki, reality star Kim Kardashian and actress Angelina Jolie are business savants, managing worldwide brands and raking in millions of dollars by providing the world with what it desires: more of them.

"[Celebrity] is absolutely capitalism at its best because it's all supply and demand. If people weren't demanding it, they wouldn't be supplying it," said Piazza. "It's the free market. It's exactly what America wants and celebrities are giving it to them, so they deserve to be paid for it."

Piazza, who splits her time between Philadelphia and Manhattan, is the author of the recently released Celebrity, Inc.: How Famous People Make Money. The book delves deep into all facets of the celebrity economy, from making money off shedding excess pounds to selling pictures of progeny for eight-figure sums to the Machiavellian machinations of Kardashian matriarch Kris Jenner. Celebrities can even make thousands in 140 characters or less, by including endorsements in their tweets.

"These people are as smart as the CEOs of any company and they're managing a corporation that makes as much money in some cases as a company," Piazza said. "The Kardashians brought in revenue of $70 million last year. They're not dumb. They know exactly what they're doing and those that are dumb don't make it. Tara Reid didn't make it. It's capitalism and natural selection at its purest."

The successful celebrities are a brand and when people no longer desire that brand, the celebrity loses all value. Consider former "It" girl Paris Hilton: "I saw her at [the] Sundance [Film Festival]," Piazza said. "She was begging paparazzi to take her picture and no one cared about her."

But the celebrity economy couldn't exist without what Piazza calls the Hollywood Industrial Complex. Piazza describes it in Celebrity, Inc. as "an interconnected web of businesses all working to maximize the value of the industry as a whole." These people put too much time and money into making celebrities succeed to let them fail, she said.